We will not rest until everywhere in the world, in every home, in every school,in every clinic, everyone can wash their hands with clean water. Join our mission to relate niceness and comfort to washing hands. With less illness as a result!
The number of hands that need proper care and don't get it, is huge. Is a billion hands a good guess? The World Health Organization seems to think so. And Covid makes this even more visible. To beat Corona, we must wash our hands. We take clean water and soap for granted. Large part of the words don't have soap and clean running water. But handwashing is important there, too.
The Hy2U (Hygiene to U) campaign is an innovative approach for rapid promotion and acceptance of washing hands in poor rural and urban areas, like Ethiopia and Kenya. The project consists of a tool for washing hands and a method for its dissemination. Instead of promoting hygiene by focusing on aspects of health, the project's focus is on comfort, niceness and fun.
Still, more than 1.5 million children under age 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases - and many more suffer from malnutrition as a result of it. A clean water supply and proper sanitation and hygiene practices are well documented as means of preventing diarrhea. Arguably the most effective means to reduce diarrhea and other illnesses is simple hand washing.
For that reason, many schools have introduced the custom of hand washing in their curriculum and daily routine. Often, due to the scarcity of water, not enough clean water per child is available and dirty water is re-used. That way, very quickly, a good custom becomes yet again a way of transmitting bacteria and disease. Plastic jars with a tap are already an improvement when compared with buckets but still often waste a lot of water and are all but aesthetically pleasing.
The Hy2U, a simple but yet effective and at the same time beautiful hand washing device was invented by the Demotech Lab to allow for hand washing at its full potential. Hy2U hence stands for the wish of "hygiene to you". The Hy2U consists only of a rubber bag, mounted on a wooden board with a self-closing valve.
The strength of the device lies in the special way in which this valve is construed - holding your hands under the valve and pressing with one finger against the little wooden pin that sticks out from the valve, the outlet of water can be perfectly controlled an no water is wasted. A five liter Hy2U allows 100-150 kids to wash their hands with clean water!
The used water is caught in the spill water basin so it won't drop and can be re-used for other purposes. Water tank, i.e. the rubber bag and the basin are held together by a cloth bag, that also supports and protects the rubber bag. At the same time, the cloth construction allows for easy transport and hanging without looking sterile but rather decorative. Made of only free or very cheap locally available material, the Hy2U can easily be build by local communities themselves and can be decorated with locally woven fabrics.
Give us a hand - The number of hands that need proper care is huge - a billion might be a good guess. Help us and the Hy2U to spread hygiene - spread the word!